Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals
Heritage cereals, a group of cereals that have not been subjected to modern crop breeding, have been getting attention due to their generally high genetic diversity, traits like high drought and disease tolerance as well as high nutritional values. Knowledge about how consumers relate to heritage ce...
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| Format: | H2 |
| Language: | Inglés Swedish |
| Published: |
SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development
2022
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| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1855572990624792576 |
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| author | Ekblad, Malin |
| author_browse | Ekblad, Malin |
| author_facet | Ekblad, Malin |
| author_sort | Ekblad, Malin |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Heritage cereals, a group of cereals that have not been subjected to modern crop breeding, have been getting attention due to their generally high genetic diversity, traits like high drought and disease tolerance as well as high nutritional values. Knowledge about how consumers relate to heritage cereals in Sweden is limited, and therefore this thesis aims to, firstly, explore acceptance, awareness and preferences among a specific consumer group; students in the agriculture program at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and, secondly, quality perception in relation to heritage cereals among consumers, bakers and retailers, in a Swedish context. The thesis used a mixed-method approach, and is based on quantitative data from a survey to capture perspectives from the student consumer group and semi-structured interviews with bakers and retailers to gain additional perspectives about food quality.
The findings from this study suggests that the awareness of heritage cereals is high among the specific consumer group. Bread and pasta make up the most preferred food products, and supermarkets were the most preferred shopping location. Gender had some influence on differences within the group, while high similarities were found between the different educational backgrounds. Results from the survey indicate that taste and Swedish food production are two very important food quality aspects for heritage cereals. Additionally, quality aspects like health, environmental impact, organic and local production were also found to be important to consumers, bakers and retailers. Consuming heritage cereals can also be seen as a tool to support sustainable food systems and different political discourses, avoiding risks associated with industrial farming and express belonging to certain cultural identities. These were also important dimensions of heritage cereal food quality. |
| format | H2 |
| id | RepoSLU18013 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU180132022-07-12T01:00:28Z Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals Kulturspannmål : goda och hållbara? : acceptans och viktiga kvaliteter kopplat till kulturspannmål Ekblad, Malin heritage cereals consumer awareness consumer acceptance consumer preference food quality Heritage cereals, a group of cereals that have not been subjected to modern crop breeding, have been getting attention due to their generally high genetic diversity, traits like high drought and disease tolerance as well as high nutritional values. Knowledge about how consumers relate to heritage cereals in Sweden is limited, and therefore this thesis aims to, firstly, explore acceptance, awareness and preferences among a specific consumer group; students in the agriculture program at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and, secondly, quality perception in relation to heritage cereals among consumers, bakers and retailers, in a Swedish context. The thesis used a mixed-method approach, and is based on quantitative data from a survey to capture perspectives from the student consumer group and semi-structured interviews with bakers and retailers to gain additional perspectives about food quality. The findings from this study suggests that the awareness of heritage cereals is high among the specific consumer group. Bread and pasta make up the most preferred food products, and supermarkets were the most preferred shopping location. Gender had some influence on differences within the group, while high similarities were found between the different educational backgrounds. Results from the survey indicate that taste and Swedish food production are two very important food quality aspects for heritage cereals. Additionally, quality aspects like health, environmental impact, organic and local production were also found to be important to consumers, bakers and retailers. Consuming heritage cereals can also be seen as a tool to support sustainable food systems and different political discourses, avoiding risks associated with industrial farming and express belonging to certain cultural identities. These were also important dimensions of heritage cereal food quality. Kulturspannmål, en grupp av spannmål som inte genomgått modern växtförädling, har under de senaste åren fått allt mer uppmärksamhet på grund av faktorer såsom deras generellt höga genetiska diversitet, resistans mot torka och sjukdomar samt nutritionsvärden. Kunskap om konsumenters syn på dessa spannmål i Sverige är idag begränsad och därför syftar denna uppsats till att undersöka acceptans, familjaritet och preferenser hos en specifik konsumentgrupp; studenter som går agronomprogrammet på Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, samt konsumenters, bagares och handlares syn på viktiga kvalitetsaspekter kopplade till kulturspannmål. Denna studie utgår från både kvantitativ data från en enkät, som använts för att undersöka konsumentgruppens perspektiv, samt semistrukturerade intervjuer för att undersöka bagares och handlares perspektiv. Resultaten visade på hög familjaritet av kulturspannmål hos konsumentgruppen. Bröd och pasta var de kulturspannmålsprodukter som flest föredrog, och flest föredrog att handla på stora matbutiker. Skillnader inom konsumentgruppen var framför allt beroende av kön och resultaten visade på stora likheter mellan olika utbildningsbakgrunder inom agronomprogrammet. Från enkäten framkom att smak och svenskproducerat var två väldigt viktiga kvalitetsaspekter kopplat till kulturspannmål. Från intervjuerna framkom även att kvalitetsaspekter som hälsa, miljöpåverkan, ekologisk och lokal produktion också var viktiga. Konsumtion av kulturspannmål kan också ses som ett verktyg för att stödja hållbar matproduktion och olika politiska diskurser, undvika olika typer av risker som associeras med industriellt jordbruk samt för att uttrycka tillhörighet till en viss kulturell identitet. Dessa aspekter visade sig också vara viktiga dimensioner av matkvalitet kopplat till kulturspannmål. SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2022 H2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/18013/ |
| spellingShingle | heritage cereals consumer awareness consumer acceptance consumer preference food quality Ekblad, Malin Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals |
| title | Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals |
| title_full | Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals |
| title_fullStr | Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals |
| title_short | Heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals |
| title_sort | heritage cereals : tasty and sustainable? : acceptance and important qualities of heritage cereals |
| topic | heritage cereals consumer awareness consumer acceptance consumer preference food quality |